Australian Sports Commission releases report card on Commonwealth Games sports

Netball and lawn bowls are the only two of the 18 sports being contested by Australia at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games to earn an "above target" high-performance ranking by the Australian Sports Commission.

The ASC has publicly released a report card for the first time, giving each sport which receives annual funding from the federal government body a score between one and five based on its high performance progress.

Cricket, golf, rugby league, sailing, skiing/snowboarding and surfing were all scored up to four for their performances in 2013, as were netball and lawn bowls.

Core sports swimming - whose improvement in corporate governance was lauded by ASC chair John Wylie - athletics, hockey and cycling all received marks of three, suggesting they were on track to achieve their stated aims.

Judo, weightlifting and motorcycling were all seen to have under-performed and got the minimum score of one.

Both the ASC and the Australian Commonwealth Games Association expect Australia to top the medals table in Glasgow, a target that has been achieved at every Games since 1986.

Swimming set for medal haul

Swimming is again projected by the ASC to win the bulk of the medals at the Glasgow Games beginning in late July with a target of between 53 and 55 medals.

The projection of 12-20 track and field medals is much broader, taking into account the uncertainty over which leading athletes from England, Scotland and Wales will prioritise the European championships over the Commonwealth Games.

Australia is also expected to win at least 13 medals across five Paralympic sports in Glasgow.

"The performance rating is about the sports' overall place in the world," ASC chief executive Simon Hollingsworth said on Thursday.

"In relation to the Commonwealth Games, we've got the specific targets that we want them to achieve which collectively will get us where we want to go, which is the number one ranking.

"It's going to be the most competitive Commonwealth Games in many years, partly on the back of the success of the London Olympics."

Netball was marked up to four by the ASC after beating New Zealand in the Constellation Cup series last year, with the ASC noting the Diamonds were on target to win gold at the Commonwealth Games and the 2015 World Cup.

Australia is ranked number one in the world in lawn bowls and is projected to win between two and five medals in Glasgow in a sport that is particularly strong at Commonwealth level.

Wylie said five of the seven core sports - those which receive annual funding of more than $5 million from the ASC - had made significant progress in governance reform in the past 12 months.

But he expressed his disappointment that Athletics Australia and Little Athletics had failed to agree on a merger.

Cycling Australia continues to work through significant financial issues, although Wylie was pleased with the efforts of new CA president Gerry Ryan and interim CEO Adrian Anderson.

The ASC distributes $130 million each year to the various national sporting bodies.

The Sports Tally report noted 25 Australian teams and individual won world championships in 2013, ranging from the men's cricket team regaining the Ashes, to Adam Scott's breakthrough at the US Masters and Jessica Fox's two canoe slalom world titles.